Williamson Act property owners to see continued higher taxes

Property owners who signed agricultural preservation contracts with the county of Mendocino under the Williamson Act will continue to pay property taxes at a higher rate after the Board of Supervisors for the second time voted to implement Assembly Bill 1265.

The board held a hearing Dec. 11 to consider re-implementing the bill, which establishes shorter Williamson Act contracts in 2013. The county first opted in to the shorter contracts in 2011, bringing the original 10-year length down to nine years.

The vote was 3-0, with 1st District Supervisor Carre Brown and 3rd District Supervisor John Pinches abstaining because they own or use land under Williamson Act contracts.

The Williamson Act gives land owners a break on property tax in exchange for using their land for agriculture for a prescribed number of years. The county in December 2011 held a public hearing to implement AB 1265 and made a finding that the county received from the state half of the foregone property tax revenue under the agriculture preservation program for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

AB 1265 allows counties to offset some of the lost Williamson Act subvention funds it would otherwise get from the state to make up for the lost property tax money by implementing new contracts with land owners that are 10 percent shorter in exchange for a 10-percent reduction in property tax relief for the land owner.

The county can participate in AB 1265 if it received less than half of the foregone property tax revenue in the previous fiscal year. The law sunsets Jan. 1, 2016.

The foregone tax revenue is about $1.3 million for the 2012-13 fiscal year, and Mendocino County will receive no Williamson Act funding from the state for that year, according to a summary prepared for the board.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@pacific.net, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.